Saturday, September 30, 2017

I recently attended a beautiful outdoor wedding at a vineyard venue here in Virginia. It was a lovely wedding, not too big, not too small, for an adorable young couple. I was impressed that one of the bridesmaids approached me and complemented me on my outfit. So I thought I'd share it with you. This was a 6 pm wedding, outdoors, and it was difficult to know what the weather would be like in September so I had to find something that could go warm or cold. And trendy is not my style so the outfit needed to be something I could wear again. Classic always reigns. I also wanted to stay away from bell sleeves as I think they are a trend that will see an early death. The thrift shops will be full of bell sleeved dresses and tops that no one wants to wear. Net-a-Porter is also a great place to get outfit ideas.

This is the dress I found and this brand fits me perfectly. The dress is comfortable and heavy enough to wear in colder climates. It's not a summer dress (will be too hot) but this can be worn to cocktail parties too. You can't go wrong with a black or navy dress. I tried a navy dress but sent it back. This one is here. I managed to find this one 70 percent off.

I wanted a small box clutch bag that I could wear with other outfits but did not want to spend a fortune. So I found this one on sale. It is much cuter in real life than here and it has another striped pattern on the other side. I will use this for years. See it here.

My real splurge for this outfit was shoes. I have a difficult time with shoes with bad bone spur and I cannot wear so many styles for this reason. And I don't like high heels but want a little heel. After serious debate I splurged and bought these (with a gift card so it wasn't such a shock). But I will wear these this winter with black pants and a turtleneck. These made the outfit. See them here.

Sometimes you have to splurge. The shoes were worth it. I felt lovely and wore simple pearl drop earrings with a hint of gold that I already had and my double strand pearl bracelet (a 30th birthday gift from my parents). It was fun to dress up for a change - I remember when all the weddings 6 or 8 pm formal and we all dressed up. Formal no longer works today, sadly enough, but I am planning a cocktail party later in the fall.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

With the natural disasters on steroids in North America right now, disaster recovery is on everyone's mind. There are all kinds of disaster recoveries, from having to look wonderful when you feel terrible, to finding the right outfit to replace the one you had decided on at the last minute, to finding a quick substitute for the main dish you just burned for your dinner party. And then there are the really unexpected disasters........

On Sunday morning, I got up very early after a very late night and turned the horses out at 6 am as we had been out very late at a wedding. It was still very cool and they were out until noon. At 2 pm a friend came over and we were walking through the barn when we both noticed April looking very funny. We pulled her out of the stall and she was clearly in distress. My friend walked her while I went for the Banamine. 10cc in the mouth had little effect 20 minutes later. The vet came out and to cut to the chase, the horse was shipped to the vet clinic that afternoon. When we arrived at 6 pm the horse was still in distress and I could feel her moving wildly in the trailer the last 20 minutes of the hour plus drive. Baby April was quickly prepped for surgery and thank goodness we have great vet care where I live. She weighed in at 1620 pounds (no lie) and I can say now that she is doing well. A displaced colon was the root cause of her distress and it is so awful to see an animal that you truly love be in so much pain. You feel helpless. But so far, the news is positive, the prognosis is good and the vet care is fabulous! We are lucky.

Sometimes it's just so hard not to love Target. I mean, look at these mules, the knock-offs, the Gucci knock-offs to be exact. While I'd love to own the $995 Gucci version, I can own the Target version for less than $30. And that includes sales tax!

Monday, September 25, 2017

Essex is known for their "horse show shirts" - the gold standard by which all others are judged in the hunter world. I love the new Dora shirts from Essex which are a casual shirt that can be worn with jeans or with riding pants. The quality of Essex is top notch too.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

The beloved Penny Chenery passed away, who is known to many as the lady behind Secretariat. Secretariat was born at her father's Meadow Stud in Virginia and it was Penny who kept the stable going after her father passed away in 1973. What a force she was and her accomplishments are too many to mention here. There is a nice overview of her life here.

In lieu of flowers, the Secretariat Foundation is offering special Penny
Chenery Memorial fundraising projects on behalf of selected
equine-related charities. For details, visit Secretariat.com.

Navy is my new neutral this fall. I have not worn a lot of navy blue in recent years but for some reason this season all signs in my wardrobe updates point to navy. It started with a navy bag that I bought at the end of the season at Tory Burch and once I had that in place, I quit turning up my nose to navy.

Then I found this really cute dress at a local store, at a great price point, but it was navy! This dress is so cute in person.

My first trip to Europe many years ago was to Northern Italy and I've been in love with the country ever since - the fashion, the food, the views, the landscape - I must have been Italian in an earlier life. I was reminded how much I love the place when I was in New York for the US Open and went to Eataly, again. And I am always reminded how much I adore Italian fashion when I see anything made by Armani. My first Armani purchase was made way back when and I still have that suit and it still fits! I also bought Valentino that trip and I still own that skirt (and it still fits). What's not to love about the simplicity and style of this sweater?

The Italians, unlike Americans, live simplistically. They value tradition, style and less is definitely more. They don't overindulge like we do in America and the Italian women definitely take care of themselves (like the French). And the wine! The Grappa!

When I made my first visit, I stayed for two weeks in Bassano del Grappa, not far from Venice. Every morning we'd go down to the village and buy fresh pasta and fresh cannoli.

(Bassano)

I recently bought two books and one of my fall resolutions is to cook and eat Italian - good Italian.